


Love Blooms

by WhiteLionOfVoltron



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: At least Keith got some of it right, Coran is a massive cockblock, I like to watch Lance suffer okay jeeze, M/M, Not-So-Slowburn this time lol, Sentient Plants that end up not doing much but they're still p cool, Slight lime, Still not canon compliant tho, Written with literally no plan and completely improv'd, non-au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 10:02:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11507103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteLionOfVoltron/pseuds/WhiteLionOfVoltron
Summary: Love blooms in the oddest of places. Even when you're stranded and bleeding out together on a strange planet or on a castle floating dozens of light years away from your home.





	Love Blooms

**Author's Note:**

> Oh look it's another angst fic yay.

     Lance opens his eyes with a low groan. He’s inside Blue, but all her systems are down. It’s hot inside the lion, and he’s sweating profusely. He looks around and sees the world outside her windshield. Everything is green. There are vines and trees everywhere, and he can tell that he’s suspended above the ground…unless the trees are short. He shakily lifts a finger to his coms.

     “G-guys?”

     Static.

     He sighs and tries to stand but lets out a shriek of agony and goes lax in his seat. Everything hurts. His chest, his stomach, his back, even his _legs_ feel like they’re on fire. He dares to look down at his armor and finds it cracked and smeared with blood. His leg plates aren’t much better, though he knows something is really wrong when he sees his left shin.

     _He can see bone._

     His chest screams as he rolls to the side and throws up. Lance has always been slightly squeamish. This certainly won’t help that.

     What even happened? The last thing he remembers is slamming into Keith and tumbling through a wormhole and—

     Oh shit…

     _Keith._

     He gathers as much strength as possible and shoves himself forward. He grunts as he falls forward against the dashboard chest-first. He lifts a trembling hand to wipe a trickle of blood out of his eye. He manages to drag himself upward and out of the panel on Blue’s head. His whole body burns with pain but he ignores it. He sits on the top of his Lion and looks around the area. He spots Red lying on the ground in the distance, smoke rising from some spots on her side. He can smell the smoke from his own Lion now too, and he coughs into his wrist as it starts to irritate his lungs. He moves his hand away and his brow furrows when he sees the specks of blood he’d coughed up. Not good.

     He squints against the planet’s hot sun and spots movement from the ground by Red. He can see Keith walking around her and investigating his Lion, though he’s favoring his right leg. And clutching his left wrist close to his chest. Lance carefully grabs his Bayard and takes aim at the tree near his friend, firing a shot to alert him to his location. Keith jumps and looks around, spotting Lance quickly as he drops his Bayard and flops down onto his back with a soft thud and a whimper. He runs toward Lance and uses his jump-jet to get up to Blue, who is suspended almost fifty feet off the ground by a tangle of vines. He climbs his way up to Lance and kneels next to him.

     “Lance?” he murmurs, placing a hand on his cheek gently.

     “H-hey mullet,” he chokes.

     “Quiznak…you look like shit,” he mumbles.

     “Th-thanks for pointing that out,” he huffs with a pained smile.

     “Stop talking,” Keith orders, turning Lance’s chin so he can see the wound on his right temple. “What day is it?”

     “S-Saturday? I don’t know,” he whines.

     “Well at least you’re not too badly concussed,” he shrugs. “Where do you hurt?”

     “Would it be bad if I t-told you literally everywhere?” he jokes.

     “Yes,” Keith sighs. “Where do you hurt the worst?”

     “M-my leg…and my st…stomach,” he resigns.

     “Is that blood on your sleeve?” he inquires.

     “Y-yeah…c-coughed it up,” he nods, squeezing his eyes shut when the motion irritates him and swallowing thickly.

     “Jesus…,” Keith runs a shaky hand through his long hair.

     “Aw…you do care,” Lance attempts to lighten the mood.

     “Of course I fucking care you asshole,” Keith fights the urge to smack his shoulder. Instead, he runs his hand down Lance’s arms to check for injuries. Luckily, his arms have nothing but a few cuts and bruises.

     “At least buy me dinner first,” Lance wiggles his eyebrows.

     Keith shoots him a look, blushing.

     “S-sorry. I default to flirting when I’m scared,” he blurts.

     Keith frowns and puts a hand on his shoulder. The silent moment is a powerful one, though it only lasts for a moment before Keith removes Lance’s broken armor and runs his fingers gently along his ribs beneath his black under armor. Lance whimpers when Keith feels something shift beneath his left hand. Definitely a broken or cracked rib. He sighs. “Sorry.”

     Lance nods in acknowledgment.

     “Okay, I’m not going to lie, if I’m right this is probably going to hurt. _A lot_ ,” he warns, hands hovering over Lance’s stomach.

     “’S fine Keith,” he slurs, making a gesture with his hand that meant he didn’t mind.

     “Just try not to bite your tongue or anything,” he mutters, putting his hands on Lance’s abdomen and pressing on it gently.

     Lance lets out a gut-wrenching scream, back arching off the ground the second he applies force. Keith can feel how tender it is and knows Lance is bleeding internally. He feels a tear slip from the corner of one of his eyes, matching the ones Lance is already shedding.

     “Shh,” he soothes, smoothing back the hair that has plastered itself to his forehead. “It’s okay. I’m sorry, it’s okay, you’re okay.”

     Lance whimpers and pants heavily, relaxing slightly as Keith gently calms him down. His vision wavers and he lifts a hand. Keith takes it and squeezes it tightly.

     “K…Keith,” he breathes.

     “What’s wrong?” he scoots closer.

     “I th…think I’m g…gonna…,” he trails off as his eyes roll back in his head and his hand goes limp in Keith’s grip.

     For a moment, he panics. He immediately reaches out to feel for Lance’s pulse and is relieved to find it fluttering softly beneath his fingers. He’s just passed out. That’s okay. It makes it easier for Keith to work.

* * *

     When Lance’s eyes open, the moons have risen. His leg feels different, and he’s lying on the ground with a blanket beneath him. Another is laid on top of him up to his shoulders. The blood has been wiped away from his head and he’s been stripped of his armor and is now dressed in just the spare pair of pants he keeps in his Lion and his tank top that he wears under his armor. It’s ripped in some places and the skin beneath is burned. He blushes when he realizes Keith must have cleaned the wounds on his chest and changed his pants. He tries to sit up but immediately regrets it when his stomach bites back in protest he squeaks and feels a hand gently push his shoulder down. He lets Keith settle him back down against the pillow he’s made with another extra blanket from the Lions.

     “Hey, easy,” he murmurs softly.

     “Wh-what happened?” he asks, gritting his teeth as Keith adjusts the pillow.

     “You passed out so I took the opportunity to patch up a few of your worse injuries. I set your leg and cleaned up all your wounds as best I could…then I grabbed those pants and preserved your modesty,” he jokes.

     “Oh. Well uh…thank you,” he mumbles.

     “You need to lay there and not move. You’re bleeding internally and the more you move the worse it’s probably gonna get,” he orders. “I’ll keep watch.”

     “W…were you able to,” Lance swallows thickly. “Were you able to get ahold of anyone on the coms?”

     “Nah…coms are down and my helmet’s busted anyway,” he sighs.

     “Are y…are you hurt?” he croaks.

     Keith laughs. “A little banged up. I think my ankle’s broken or sprained or something. Cut my arm up.”

     “D—“ he swallows again. “Did you fix it?”

     “Yeah, I’ve got a splint on and everything. Red got the least of that blast. I probably would’ve been killed if you hadn’t got in front of me, so thanks for that,” he smirks.

     “Wh-what?” Lance arches an eyebrow.

     “You don’t remember?” he frowns.

     “No,” he huffs. “I’m concussed, remember?”

     “We were in the middle of a battle. I was distracted and Allura had a wormhole open, but one of the cruisers fired their ion cannon at Red. You jumped in front of it and when you went flying backward you hit me and we went through. But since Allura wasn’t with us we had no control over where we got spit out. It’s how we ended up here,” he explains. “It’s why you have such bad burns on your chest and why Blue is so damaged.”

     Lance looks up at his Lion. She’s ripped apart in some places, particularly her side.

     “Luckily you managed to get a little bit of your particle barrier up before it hit you, so it didn’t completely destroy you guys,” he sighs. “I was awake, you know. The whole time we went through that wormhole. I thought…I thought you were dead.”

     Lance frowns. “You really cared that much?”

     “Lance, we already had this discussion. I care about you, okay? Don’t let it get to your head,” he sighs, reaching into his bag and pulling out a canteen and a rag. “Now take it easy. You’re running a fever and I need you to work with me if you’re going to make it back to the castle.”

     He pours some of the water out onto the rag and wrings it out before folding it and wiping the sweat from Lance’s forehead, trying to keep him cool. Lance shifts but settles as he realized how nice it actually feels.

     “Here. Drink,” he whispers, leaning Lance’s head up.

     He tilts the canteen into Lance’s mouth and he closes his eyes happily as the water spills over his lips and travels down his throat and into his core. It slowly cools him down momentarily, but it doesn’t last.

     Keith sighs and sets the canteen aside. “It’s too hot on this planet. If they don’t find us soon…”

     “We’ll bake alive,” he murmurs.

     “Yeah. Just hang in there, okay?” he smiles half-heartedly, smoothing back Lance’s hair.

* * *

     Lance doesn’t remember falling asleep. But when he wakes up, it’s morning. Keith is missing, and Lance frowns, sitting up. The rag on his forehead is dry as it falls off. That means Keith has been gone for a while. He stands and almost falls, yelping as his leg shouts in protest to the pressure. He coughs and blood spatters on the ground. He ignores it, limping toward the Red Lion and leaning against her. He can see the trail Keith took, chopped up by his sword. He stumbles forward and follows the trail as far as he can, using trees for support. He feels his hand slip on one and looks over to see the tree’s trunk is smeared red. He gags and swallows thickly. That’s not his blood…

     He hears something scream.

     _Keith._

     He runs…limps toward the sound and finds a clearing. In it is Lance’s worst nightmare. Well, _one_ of them.

     Keith is tangled in a mess of vines, chest cut up in places and bleeding as it spills over his shirt. His arms are wrapped up by thorny vines that slice into his skin as he writhes in an attempt to get free. His head wound is open again and he’s covered in thin shallow cuts. He spots Lance and his jaw drops.

     “Lance?!” he barks. “What the hell are you doing here?! Get out! They’ll get you too!”

     Too late.

     Vines shoot from the darkness of the forest and hit the air with a crack as Lance drops to the ground. He spots Keith’s Bayard and grabs it. It morphs into a red gun and he fires into the darkness. Something squeals and he scoots over to Keith, shooting the vines holding his arms and legs. He passes the Bayard back to Keith and it changes back to his sword.

     “You’re a fucking crazy man,” he pants, slicing through the vines holding his chest in place.

     “I know. I try,” he pants, taking his own Bayard off his belt and aiming into the darkness. He’s still wearing just his pants and a ripped-up tank top. He feels naked. He fires at the vines as they attack and the two back out of the forest, shooting and slicing the whole way back to the lions. Suddenly, Keith is knocked down and a vine wraps around his leg. He screams as it drags him into the darkness.

     “NO!” Lance shrieks, firing blindly and hoping he doesn’t hit Keith.

     There’s a loud roar and suddenly the forest is ablaze. Lance ducks as the Red Lion swoops overhead and rushes in to save her Paladin. Keith comes running out of the trees, the skin around his ankle torn and bleeding heavily. The two don’t even bother with their weapons as they run toward Blue. The heat is unbearable and Lance tires quickly, falling against Keith. They barely make it to safety.

     They lie on the ground, panting heavily and bleeding from every cut and scratch they’d received. There’s one on Keith’s cheek from hitting a tree as they ran, and his ankle…it’s bound to get infected.

     “What were you doing!?” Keith huffs.

     “I…I woke up and…you were gone,” Lance replies, eyes drooping exhaustedly as he stares up at the blazing sun. “I-I-I got worried.”

     Keith frowns and sits up. Lance is bleeding…and not like Keith. Sure, he has little cuts and bruises, but he has blood trickling down his chin from his mouth. Partially from a split lip, but mostly bubbling from his throat. His eyes are red and tired.

     “Hey, why don’t you rest,” he suggests.

     Lance frowns. “B…but…”

     “Shh,” Keith smooths back Lance's hair as he'd done before. Lance’s fever is getting worse.

     “Keith…,” Lance’s eyelids fall closed against his will and Keith smiles as he sighs and his breathing evens.

     Keith looks up at the sky and the smile falls from his face.

     “Come on guys…,” he begs. “He needs you. _I_ need you.”

* * *

     “Shiro, you _must_ calm down,” Allura tries.

     “Calm down? _Calm down?!_ ” he barks. “ _Two_ _members of my crew_ are missing; probably injured and stranded God knows where! How am I supposed to calm down?!”

     “Shiro, Allura is right. Even if we _did_ know where they were, we wouldn’t be able to get there right away! The Teladuv needs to be repaired, and regardless, we can’t find them unless—“

     The monitor cuts Pidge off. Everyone’s eyes lock onto the panel and Allura rushes forward. Typing madly on the panel she gasps.

     “The castle computer has picked up a faint signal from the Red Lion!” she exclaims.

     “What?! Really?!” Hunk moves toward her.

     “She looks damaged…,” Coran murmurs.

     “We can get to them as soon as the Teladuv is prepared,” she smirks.

     “When will that be?” Shiro snaps, rubbing his mouth.

     They’d all been frantic when Keith and Lance flew through the wormhole ahead of them. The last thing they’d heard of them was Lance’s shriek as the ion cannon knocked him unconscious. It had been terrifying. Shiro was more panicked about Keith. He didn’t admit it, but he and Lance weren’t as close as he felt they should be. Keith and Shiro were like brothers, and the boy he’d practically raised was nearly killed and might be dead anyway…but if the Red Lion was active it meant Keith was alive, right?

     “About one quintant. I’m sorry Shiro,” she chokes.

     He roars in exasperation, throwing his hands up in the air. This is ridiculous.

     One more day.

* * *

     Lance isn’t gonna make it one more day, Keith has decided. Not without help. Currently, he’s sleeping soundly but every once in a while…

     Lance lets out a hacking cough and blood erupts from his lips. Small red spots appear on his tank top and forehead. Keith bites his lower lip.

     Yeah. That happens.

     He’s extremely pale and he can barely move. He’s groaning softly every once in a while, fever raging through his system.

     Keith himself isn’t doing so hot either…his skin is losing what little color it has and he’s having trouble staying awake. He’s exhausted physically, emotionally, and mentally. He’s pretty sure he never wants to see another plant again...that’ll be a problem with Pidge. He’ll have to leave Voltron over this.

     He laughs at the thought, but Lance coughs again and his attention is diverted elsewhere.

     “K…Keeeiiith,” he moans loudly, clearly in pain and scared.

     “Hey, shh shh shh,” he hushes quietly.

     The forest kicks up at the noise. Alien birds chirp and the vines in the trees groan and crack as they lick the air by the clearing where the lions lay. Lance quiets down and Keith sighs in relief. As long as they stay quiet, the vines will leave them alone, even though they can’t reach them where they are anyway. The Red Lion has curled up on her side like a cat would back on Earth, and she’s shading them from the sun and protecting them from the vines. It would be quite cute if she weren’t so heavily damaged and hardly in a shape to be defending them and if the two of them weren’t dying.

     Blue is still dangling overhead, and now it left little doubt in Keith’s mind that the vines had lashed out and caught her as she fell. He hates this place.

* * *

     Ten more Vargas left. Ten hours. It’s not fast enough for Shiro. He’s been worriedly pacing around his cabin all day. Allura has apologized profusely dozens of times, for what reason Shiro doesn’t know. He supposes it’s more for her own sake…she blames herself for not paying more attention while the battle was going on. She blames herself for the disappearance of Keith and Lance.

     His eyes widen at the revelation. He leaves his room and jogs out to the map room. Allura is sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a hovering map, the small jungle planet blinking softly with the glow of the Red Lion’s quickly fading signature. Her pilot isn’t doing well, and neither is she. Blue’s signal is completely dead. It’s worrying. _Really_ worrying.

     “Hey,” he says, sliding down next to her quietly. They gaze up at the star-maps as the stars and planets drift by them. It’s surreal. He supposes this is what Lance meant when he said it was a soothing sight…

     God, he already misses these kids.

     “Hello,” she whispers.

     “You do understand the only ones at fault here are the Galra, right?” he hesitates, but gently rests a hand on her shoulder.

     She tenses but allows him to. She sighs and draws her knees up to her chest.

     “I know that I just…can't help but feel that I had something to do with it. I should have waited for them to be back on the ship before I opened the—“

     Shiro draws her into a hug, her knees falling along with a single tear. She freezes for a moment but wraps her arms around him.

     “Allura, you had _nothing_ to do with it. You were trying to save us all. If anything, I should have been watching their back, so…,” he sighs. “Just stop beating yourself up over it. You’ll never forgive yourself for that.”

     They pull back and for a moment they look into each other’s eyes. They find themselves leaning closer. They close their eyes…

     “Princess! There you are!”

     The two spin away from each other. Coran bounces into the room with that signature spry spring in his step. He looks between them with an arched brow. He pauses for a moment then shrugs.

     “Princess, we need you to fire up the Teladuv. If you can get a small wormhole, we may be able to send in the lions. The castle won’t fit through though,” he sighs. “Perhaps Shiro can take the Black Lion and carry the other Lions back to the ship.”

     She stands and shakes her head. No. There are two Lions, and I don’t know if we can keep a wormhole open long enough. We must land the ship there. Did Pidge finish digging up information on the planet they’ve been stranded on?”

     “Yes! Apparently, it’s been off-limits to Galra patrols as ordered by Zarkon. The plants on the planet are sentient and deadly. Most ships that crash there never return. But the fact that one of the Lions is still running means it’s protecting something. We can depart toward the planet in five more Vargas…”

* * *

     “K…Keith.”

     Keith startles awake. He’d been half asleep when Lance opened his eyes and spoke.

     “Lance? Are you—“

     “I-If we make it out of this, some things are gonna hafta change,” he mumbles.

     His companion arches an eyebrow.

     “Like what?” he huffs.

     “L…like we c-can’t fight as m…much,” he slurs.

     Keith frowns and he realizes that this is Lance’s apology. He knows that he’s probably not gonna make it. His skin is pale…way too pale. He’s bleeding heavily and his stomach is bruised to all hell. He’s drowsy and blurring in and out of consciousness. He feels like he’s floating on thin air.

     “And?” Keith decides that he can’t do much more but let Lance just keep talking.

     “A…and I’m gonna punch you. Just for everything you’ve done. And…and then I’m gonna kiss you,” he mutters.

     Keith nearly chokes, spitting blood from biting his tongue.

     “What?”

     “I…I’m…I love you,” he breathes.

     His eyes slide closed.

     “Lance?” he mumbles, unable to move from his spot. He’s too tired to do much of anything anymore. Instead, he reaches out his foot, nudging his bicep. He barely moves, fingers twitching. He’s out…probably for the last time.

     Tears spill over Keith’s long eyelashes and his chest tightens. His shoulders shake.

     They’re going to die here. _He doesn’t want to die here._

     He hears the roar of an engine, and he nearly screams as he sees the castle descending upon the planet’s surface.

     His vision darkens.

     He’s gone.

* * *

     Keith takes a huge gulp of fresh air as he stumbles out of the cryo-pod and falls into Shiro’s arms. He rolls Keith over into a cradling position and hugs him close.

     “I almost lost you, buddy,” he whispers, tears slipping from his eyes.

     “I missed you,” Keith murmurs, falling asleep again.

* * *

     When he wakes up again, it’s quiet and he’s alone in his room.

     Save for Shiro, who’s sleeping next to his bed. He rolls out of his bunk and gently throws the blanket around Shiro’s shoulders.

     He wanders out of his room and doesn’t see or hear anyone. He can see the infirmary lights glowing dimly down the hall, and he picks up his pace. He rounds the corner into the room and looks around frantically. There! Lance, upright in a cryo-pod. His hair is a mess, but he’s cleaned up and his wounds are healing. He sighs and plops down cross-legged in front of the pod, resting a hand on his chin. He twiddles his thumbs and waits.

     He waits.

* * *

     Lance’s first taste of air is cold. _Freezing_. The cryo-pod slides open and he trips as he steps forward. He lands in a pair of warm arms. And then all he sees is red and black as Keith buries Lance’s head in his shoulder.

     “Don’t you _ever_ do that again you ass,” he snarls.

     “Love you too,” he mumbles.

     Keith steps away and steadies him. And then…

     Lance hits him. In the face. _Hard_. Especially for a guy that was literally half-dead like yesterday…or was it the day before? He’d lost track.

     He grunts and stumbles backward a few steps. He opens his mouth to shout something Shiro would kill him for saying and then suddenly he’s got a mouthful of Lance.

     His taste is something new to Keith. But it’s nice.

     Lance is a great kisser.

     But he’s also aggressive…like _really_ aggressive. He presses their bodies together and pries Keith’s mouth open with his tongue. He knows what he wants and he’s going to get it. Keith shivers as he feels Lance’s fingers tangle in his thick black hair and the other hand graze the small of his back. The tremble runs up his spine and he relishes in the sensation.

     There’s a lot of spit when they separate, licking their lips.

     “Holy shit,” Keith whispers.

     “Yeah,” Lance pants, immediately going back in after they’ve both taken a breath. They back up against a pod and Keith abandons his jacket, as he’s starting to sweat. He throws it to the side and Lance runs his hands along Keith’s arms. Keith tenses and shudders when Lance nibbles at his neck and goes up to his earlobe. It’s incredibly intimate but it’s like they’ve been waiting to do it for years.

     Hunk backs out of the room from where he stood in the doorway with a grin. About time.

* * *

     No one misses the two couples, Allura and Shiro with hands held together tightly and Lance and Keith with their bruised lips and necks covered with tiny marks, pinkies twined together at all times. They’re almost disgusting sometimes. But it’s cute.

     Their loves, both blossomed in the middle of a deadly crisis.

     Hot, Pidge always says. Hunk just calls it sweet…odd, but sweet.

**Author's Note:**

> Damn dat was hOT.


End file.
